ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Karl Voit]

Hi!

When I open a file which starts flyspell, I get this:

,----[ *Messages* ]
| Starting new Ispell process [aspell::german8] ...
| Error enabling Flyspell mode:
| (Error: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.)
`----

My spelling-related config is:

,----[ .emacs ]
| ;; http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15346723/emacs-and-ispell-error-loading-german8
| (eval-after-load "ispell"
|   '(add-to-list 'ispell-dictionary-alist
|                 '("german8"
|                    "[A-zA-ZäöüßÄÖÜ]" "[^a-zA-ZäöüßÄÖÜ]" "[']" t
|                   ("-C" "-d" "de_DE-neu.multi")
|                   "~latin1" iso-8859-1)))
|
|
| (autoload 'flyspell-mode "flyspell" "On-the-fly ispell." t)
| (setq flyspell-issue-welcome-flag nil)
| (setq flyspell-default-dictionary "german8")
`----

Yes, there is no "/usr/lib/aspell/german". However, I was wondering,
why Emacs is looking for .../aspell/german and not
.../aspell/german8?

How can I fix this issue?

Thank you!


My system:
- Debian GNU/Linux stable (Wheezy)
- GNU Emacs 23.4.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.10) of
  2012-09-08 on trouble, modified by Debian

-- 
All in all, one of the most disturbing things today is the definitive
fact that the NSA, GCHQ, and many more government organizations are
massively terrorizing the freedom of us and the next generations.

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 01.12.2013 um 11:48 schrieb Karl Voit:

> Yes, there is no "/usr/lib/aspell/german". However, I was wondering,
> why Emacs is looking for .../aspell/german and not
> .../aspell/german8?

Maybe you need to tell ispell/aspell that you want to use the "german8" ispell-dictionary…

Your code just informs ispell/aspell how to treat particular characters and how the spelling checker will be invoked. What's left to specify is the (default) dictionary.

--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen

  Pete

The best way to accelerate a PC is 9.8 m/s²

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Karl Voit]

* Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE> wrote:
>
> Am 01.12.2013 um 11:48 schrieb Karl Voit:
>
>> Yes, there is no "/usr/lib/aspell/german". However, I was
>> wondering, why Emacs is looking for .../aspell/german and not
>> .../aspell/german8?
>
> Maybe you need to tell ispell/aspell that you want to use the
> "german8" ispell-dictionary…
>
> Your code just informs ispell/aspell how to treat particular
> characters and how the spelling checker will be invoked. What's
> left to specify is the (default) dictionary.

I thought that "(setq flyspell-default-dictionary "german8")" is
defining my default language I want to use.

Additionally, in most of my files, I got local variables like

    (setq flyspell-default-dictionary "german8")

As I switch between files and languages quite often (american,
british, german), I tend to use those file-variables to set the
current language.

Therefore, I guess that missing language definition is not my issue,
isn't it?

-- 
All in all, one of the most disturbing things today is the definitive
fact that the NSA, GCHQ, and many more government organizations are
massively terrorizing the freedom of us and the next generations.

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 02.12.2013 um 17:11 schrieb Karl Voit:

> Therefore, I guess that missing language definition is not my issue,
> isn't it?

Yes. I think your problem is that you are not using the correct syntax in the files. In a file's footer you would have to use:

	%%% Local Variables:
	%%% mode: LaTeX
	%%% flyspell-default-dictionary: "german8"
	%%% End:

In the header you would use:

	%% -*- mode: LaTeX; flyspell-default-dictionary: "german8"; -*- 

Notice the use of ";"!

BTW, does it work to switch (change) dictionaries manually?

--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen

  Pete

Specifications are for the weak and timid!

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Jambunathan K]

Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE> writes:

> Yes. I think your problem is that you are not using the correct syntax
> in the files. In a file's footer you would have to use:
>
> 	%%% Local Variables:
> 	%%% mode: LaTeX
> 	%%% flyspell-default-dictionary: "german8"
> 	%%% End:

M-x add-file-local-variable


> In the header you would use:
>
> 	%% -*- mode: LaTeX; flyspell-default-dictionary: "german8"; -*- 
>
> Notice the use of ";"!

M-x add-file-local-variable-prop-line

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Karl Voit]

Peter Dyballa (Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE) wrote:

> Am 02.12.2013 um 17:11 schrieb Karl Voit:
>
> > Therefore, I guess that missing language definition is not my
> > issue, isn't it?
>
> Yes. I think your problem is that you are not using the correct
> syntax in the files. In a file's footer you would have to use:
>
>   %%% Local Variables:
>   %%% mode: LaTeX
>   %%% flyspell-default-dictionary: "german8"
>   %%% End:

No change of my issue.

> In the header you would use:
>
>   %% -*- mode: LaTeX; flyspell-default-dictionary: "german8"; -*-

Good to know, thanks.

> BTW, does it work to switch (change) dictionaries manually?

No.

In a file whose local var is set to german8, I often have to change
to british or american. Therefore, I am using a custom defun of
mine. Does not work either.

Btw, I had to change from en_US, en_GB, and de_AT to american,
british, and german8 respectively. This was caused by an issue of
Windows [2] which I had to start using in addition to my Linux and OS X
boxes (sharing the same .emacs.d[1]).

With the old naming scheme (de_AT, en_US, ...) it worked fine at
least on my non-Windows machines.

  1. https://github.com/novoid/dot-emacs

  2. My Windows spellchecker is only able to use german8 instead of
  de_AT. My other boxes should be fine with both naming conventions.

-- 
All in all, one of the most disturbing things today is the definitive
fact that the NSA, GCHQ, and many more government organizations are
massively terrorizing the freedom of us and the next generations.

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 02.12.2013 um 17:44 schrieb Karl Voit:

> With the old naming scheme (de_AT, en_US, ...) it worked fine at
> least on my non-Windows machines.

I think these are the correct names of the aspell dictionaries. "German8" is clearly an ispell name.

When you have ispell/aspell/flyspell/whatever magic spell correctly configured, you should be able to manually invoke

	M-x ispell-change-dictionary RET

(I *only* use ispell; this works) or whatever command is available for flyspell and then press TAB to see in a *Completions* buffer the dictionaries to choose one from. If this fails, then you have to set up a bit more, for example the path to the directory with the dictionaries.

To share one user init file between different systems you can use the variable system-type to distinguish between the systems.

--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen

  Pete

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
		-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Karl Voit]

Hi Peter!

* Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE> wrote:
>
> Am 02.12.2013 um 17:44 schrieb Karl Voit:
>
>> With the old naming scheme (de_AT, en_US, ...) it worked fine at
>> least on my non-Windows machines.
>
> I think these are the correct names of the aspell dictionaries.
> "German8" is clearly an ispell name.
>
> When you have ispell/aspell/flyspell/whatever magic spell
> correctly configured, you should be able to manually invoke
>
> 	M-x ispell-change-dictionary RET

This works fine: I can use de_AT, en_US, american, german8, and so
on and it works without any error or warning message.

> To share one user init file between different systems you can use
> the variable system-type to distinguish between the systems.

I distinguish many things based on hostname (mainly) and (seldom)
host system type. However, I would like to have a method to define
the dictionary of choice as a per-file variable.

I get the feeling that we do have a different understanding of my
situation. Here is a quick overview:

Let's say I work in A.org with german8 and in B.org with american.
It's no use to do this in my .emacs. I would like to stick to the
file-based definition method that worked for years which I described
in my original posting (except the fact that I had to change from
xx_xx to names).

My old (working) setup:
- GNU/Linux and OS X
- per-file: local variable "de_AT" or "en_US"
- ispell-change-dictionary interactively: "de_AT" or "en_US"

My new (not yet working) setup:
- GNU/Linux and OS X and Windows 7
- per-file: local variable "german8" or "american" does not work on
  GNU/Linux only -> *I need to fix this*
- ispell-change-dictionary interactively: works with "german8" or
  "american" on all of my systems

Local variables (in header line or at bottom) worked with the old
names (except on Windows). With the new names (german8) it works
only on Windows and not with Debian GNU/Linux.

When I am using local var (or header var) "german8" with GNU/Linux I
get "Error: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for
reading." although I did *not* try to switch to "german" but to
"german8".

-- 
All in all, one of the most disturbing things today is the definitive
fact that the NSA, GCHQ, and many more government organizations are
massively terrorizing the freedom of us and the next generations.

Re: ispell: The file "/usr/lib/aspell/german" can not be opened for reading.

[Michael Heerdegen]

Hi Karl,

> ,----[ .emacs ]
> | ;; http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15346723/emacs-and-ispell-error-loading-german8
> | (eval-after-load "ispell"
> |   '(add-to-list 'ispell-dictionary-alist
> |                 '("german8"
> |                    "[A-zA-ZäöüßÄÖÜ]" "[^a-zA-ZäöüßÄÖÜ]" "[']" t
> |                   ("-C" "-d" "de_DE-neu.multi")
> |                   "~latin1" iso-8859-1)))
> |
> |
> | (autoload 'flyspell-mode "flyspell" "On-the-fly ispell." t)
> | (setq flyspell-issue-welcome-flag nil)
> | (setq flyspell-default-dictionary "german8")
> `----

What are your values of `ispell-local-dictionary' and
`ispell-dictionary'?  If any of them is not nil, it takes precedence
over `flyspell-default-dictionary'.  I guess it's better to use one of
the ispell vars as file local variable.

Regards,

Michael.